In the encyclopedia of modernist architecture, Jerrold “Jerry” E. Lomax’s entry keeps getting longer. This is partly because, at 79, Lomax is still actively practicing, and also because scrutiny has recovered some of his early work from the clutches of his glitzy former employer. As an associate in Craig Ellwood’s office during the publicity-intensive period of the mid- to late 1950s, Lomax was responsible for upwards of 20 building designs that had long been credited solely to Ellwood. Ellwood’s now-renowned Hollywood hopeful story—image-conscious and self-promotion-oriented, constantly seeking to burnish his reputation though he never had formal training or a license—meant that talented young designers like Lomax could execute and experiment behind the scenes.
Impressed by projects of Ellwood’s that appeared in Arts & Architecture while he was in college, Lomax decided to move to Los Angeles in 1953. His design career at Craig Ellwood Associates started auspiciously. “On the first house I worked on, the Pierson House in Malibu, [Ellwood] had done some sketch of a floor plan that looked like a tract house on pilings,” Lomax explains. “So I asked if I could try and he said, ‘Sure.’ I ended up designing the house—and I had only been there a few weeks.” Frustration with Ellwood’s inattention to structural common sense in favor of detailing and client schmoozing permeates Lomax’s recollections. “He was intrigued with good design visually, not necessarily three-dimensionally.”
Lomax realized that his lack of public credit was not just unfair, but bad for his career. He asked for equal billing and Ellwood declined. “When I left, it was based on wanting to be a partner, because he was adding on quite a bit [of work]. He said, ‘No.’” After eight and a half years with Ellwood, having moved the practice into a more sophisticated design direction but generally feeling dissatisfied, Lomax parted ways, and was soon joined by another former Ellwood employee, Philo Jacobson.
But business wasn’t brisk. This was due in part to the ’60s slowdown in construction, but also because Lomax avoided the one thing that he admits Ellwood did so well: self-promotion. “He created the mold we all fell into eventually. I should have done it sooner.” In retrospect he holds no bitterness toward his former employer, and still respects the designs Ellwood executed that first lured him back to Los Angeles. He recognizes that the association will forever shadow his career: “I tried to escape the connection, as I wanted [to earn my reputation] myself. Then I found that there was no escape and rolled with it.”
It was sweet vindication that by 1976, a traveling exhibition heralded the “Los Angeles 12,” a group of disparate architects, two of whom were Craig Ellwood and Jerry Lomax (as well as John Lautner, Cesar Pelli, and Frank Gehry). In those days, before historians started questioning the provenance of Ellwood’s designs, the story read
as disciple-achieves-mentor’s-status.
Lomax’s reputation won him numerous commercial and industrial commissions in the southland throughout the 1960s and ’80s—including showrooms and tilt-up warehouses. It was, however, the individual residences that highlighted his modernist ideals. Many of the homes—sea-view properties in Malibu, Pacific Palisades, and other tony California coastal regions—follow the tenets of California postwar modernism while exploring different material palettes. In these works Lomax’s expression of volume becomes his signature.
Lomax’s houses assert themselves authoritatively while falling short of brutalism. For example, the house Lomax built for himself in 1970 plants a steadfast movie-screen façade on a pedestal-like foundation, with just the entrance and one window interrupting.
Lomax’s longevity has even allowed an opportunity to take several swipes at the same project. His current workload includes a house on a sloping site in Brentwood that he originally designed for an acquaintance 35 years ago. Remarkably, its new owner wants him to design an addition. “Last year when I went to look at it I thought, What was I thinking when I did this? It was nicely detailed and everything, but it just seemed outdated.” In particular Lomax regretted the home’s wood structure—a decision made at the time for budgetary reasons. He talked the new client into a steel frame and sod roof.
In the mid-’90s Lomax moved his practice up the coast to Sand City, near Monterey. After arriving he was surprised by the lack of interest in local modernist history or contemporary practice. “I wanted my house done in steel studs. Nobody knew how to do it here.”
Lomax became involved in local historical record keeping. “When I first moved here, I asked the AIA if they had a list of modern buildings in the vicinity from the past 40 years or so. They said they didn’t. I couldn’t believe it—so I didn’t join the local chapter.” Instead, he teamed up with two area professors and architectural historians, Rick Janick and Kent Seavey, who had been compiling their own records, calling attention to houses by Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright, William Wurster, and Charles Moore. This research culminated in a 2003 exhibition at the Monterey Museum of Art, “The History of Modern Architecture in the Peninsula,” which the trio curated.
The historical record corrected and illuminated, Lomax continues to extend his legacy through new work (he did finally join the local chapter of the AIA), as well as educational programs and tours related to the relatively undocumented local central coast modernism.
As for looking back, he quips, “Just knowing I had an influence is the exciting thing.”
2 / Lomax wanted to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps, but couldn’t pass the color perception tests. Years later, coincidentally, aviation manufacturer Northrop hired him
to redesign buildings, and made him the color consultant.
3 / The architecture school at the University of Houston was new when Lomax attended in the early ’50s. His early outlook was a synthesis of the three major influences taught at the time: Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, and Eero Saarinen.
4 / Lomax was the principal designer on numerous projects long credited solely to Craig Ellwood, including the Pierson House, the Hunt House, the Daphne House, and
the Korsen House.
5 / Lomax claims to have had a major role in Case Study Houses #17 and #18, decrying #17, which was compromised by John Entenza’s publishing schedule and deference to the house’s client. Lomax’s sketch of the house graces the cover of Taschen’s Case Study Houses.
6 / Lomax partnered with Philo Jacobson, as well as Donald Mills (1974–1979) and John Rock (1982–1994).
7 / Lomax spent much of the ’70s and ’80s working on large commercial and industrial commissions, including the Miller Desk headquarters, the Beverly Connection shopping center, and the Trailer Life Publishing Company headquarters.
8 / Between dinner courses, a client of Lomax’s was talking to a waitress about a recently completed project. It turned out the waitress was in fact Lomax’s niece. The two pursued a relationship, and the client is now Lomax’s nephew-in-law.
9 / Lomax’s wife of 30 years, Sandra Miles, a furniture dealer who represents Knoll, occasionally collaborates with him on the design and furnishings of his projects.
10 / Lomax and Miles have built four residences together, in Westwood, Pacific Palisades, Carmel Valley, and most recently, Sand City (where he didn’t customize the space beyond the plan). His mixed-use condo sits near a big-box strip mall and is visible from Highway 1.
